Re: Portable Debian?
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Michael Pobega wrote:
> On Thu, Apr 05, 2007 at 10:30:34AM +0200, Joe Hart wrote:
>> Mirco Piccin wrote:
>>> Hi!
>>> Well, for xmas i do something like that as gift for my customers.
>>> I prepare a usb with many tiny linux distro bootable via usb and with
>>> grub (to choice the preferred distro).
>>>
>>> There are a lot of minimal linux distro, and many are debian based
>>> (DamnSmallLinux, Knoppix, for example).
>>> I think that for your aim you must use a live distro.
>>>
>>> It's quite easy to use a live distro in a usb device.
>>> You can :
>>> - format usb devices as fat:
>>> # mkfs.vfat -n <volumename> -F 16 <usbdevice_partition (/dev/sda1, for
>>> example)>
>>>
>>> - mount the live cd iso and usb device:
>>> # mount -o loop <iso> <mount point>
>>> # mount -t vfat <usbdevice_partition> <usbdevice_partition_mountpoint>
>>>
>>> - copy all content to usb device.
>>> # cp -a <iso mount point>/* <usbdevice_partition_mountpoint>
>>>
>>> -if it's a livecd, probably use syslinux/isolinux to boot, so find
>>> syslinux.bin and syslinux.cfg (in root directory) OR isolinux.bin and
>>> isolinux.cfg (in /boot directory);
>>> if you find isolinux.* in /boot directory, copy those files in root
>>> directory, renaming those in syslinux.*:
>>> # cd <usbdevice_partition_mountpoint>
>>> # cp boot/isolinux.bin syslinux.bin
>>> # cp boot/isolinux.cfg syslinux.cfg
>>>
>>> (you can modifiy syslinux.cfg to change default boot delay, background,
>>> font or to add another distro)
>>>
>>> - umount usb device:
>>> # cd
>>> # umount <usbdevice_partition>
>>>
>>> - and make it bootable with syslinux:
>>> # syslinux <usbdevice_partition, /dev/sda1 for example>
>>>
>>> Hope it helps you!
>> That is certainly simpler than the procedure I pointed out with the
>> link, but doing this will not allow the OP to customize the distro with
>> only the apps that he wants. However, if he can find a LiveCD that has
>> everything he needs, and it fits on his USB stick, then I see no reason
>> why something like this wouldn't work.
>
> I may be wrong, but I remember there was a LiveCD that if you put .deb
> files in the /deb folder it would automatically install them at boot
> time (And there was a certain way to handle dependencies, too).
>
> Perhaps I'm thinking of DSL or Knoppix?
Maybe, I never tried it. I would suppose that would work if you make
your own liveCD, but not with an existing one AFAIK. I only use grml as
a liveCD so I can do a partimage of my / drive. I do that once in a
while to make sure I have a good backup.
Joe
- --
Registerd Linux user #443289 at http://counter.li.org/
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